1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a foldable and overlappable carrier box, in which a short side panel thereof is erected when in use so that boxes can be stacked up, and the short side panel thereof is folded when in storage or collection so that the boxes can overlap each other.
2. Description of the Related Art
Foldable boxes are widely used. The foldable boxes are used to store or carry articles or the parts held therein and are folded when the box is in storage.
Such a foldable box is disclosed in Korean U.M. Registration No. 0365587 that was registered on Oct. 12, 2004 and is entitled ‘Foldable Box’.
According to the above publication, as shown in FIG. 14, a foldable box 100 mainly includes a rectangular bottom panel 110, a pair of first side panels 120a and 120b that are placed on long sides of the bottom panel 110 in such a way as to face each other, and a pair of second side panels 130a and 130b that are placed on short sides of the bottom panel 110 in such a way as to face each other. When it is desired to fold the box 100 from an unfolded state, a user holds short-side frames 140b and 140d and handle portions 170 of the box 100 with his or her hands and then pushes the second side panels 130a and 130b so that they fold inwards. Further, the first side panels 120a and 120b are folded towards the interior of the box with respect to a central cutting line, hence folding the box.
However, the conventional foldable box 100 has drawbacks because a process of folding the box is complicated, which is inconvenient, and the cost of manufacturing the box is high.
There is also a conventional overlappable carrier box in which articles or parts are stored and carried, which is folded when the box is in storage.
The shape of such an overlappable box is that of a box that is open at its top, and is wide at its upper portion and narrow at its lower portion to make it easy to overlap and store boxes when not in use, with handle portions being rotatably provided on upper portions of sidewalls of the box across the sidewalls. Thus, when boxes are stacked up, the handle portions are placed across the sidewalls to stack one box on another box. In contrast, when the boxes are not in use, the handle portions of each box are rotated to be placed on both sidewalls, thus allowing the boxes to easily overlap each other.
However, such an overlappable carrier box has drawbacks in that the load is concentrated on the handle portions when the boxes up are stacked up, and the only portions of the boxes that overlap are constituted by thin sidewalls, so that the strength is very weak.
Further, unless one box is precisely placed on the handle portions of another box when stacking the boxes up, the box may undesirably fall down.